Starshine American technology satellite. 2 launches, 1999.05.27 (Starshine) and 2001.09.30 (Starshine 3). The small Starshine satellite, built by NRL, was to be observed by students as part of an educational exercise. More...

UoSAT British amateur radio communications satellite. One launch, 2001.09.30, Picosat. Radio science; also carried amateur radio package. Communication and geophysics research satellite. More...

Sapphire American technology satellite. One launch, 2001.09.30. SAPPHIRE (a US DoD-funded microsatellite) was built by Stanford University students and carried experimental infrared horizon sensors, a voice synthesizer and a digital camera. More...

Athena Privately funded family of solid propellant satellite launch vehicles. Originally known as LMLV (Lockheed-Martin Launch Vehicle); LLV (Lockheed Launch Vehicle). Sales did not develop as hoped by the company after the MEO-satellite bubble burst in the 1990's. More...

Cape Canaveral America's largest launch center, used for all manned launches. Today only six of the 40 launch complexes built here remain in use. Located at or near Cape Canaveral are the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, used by NASA for Saturn V and Space Shuttle launches; Patrick AFB on Cape Canaveral itself, operated the US Department of Defense and handling most other launches; the commercial Spaceport Florida; the air-launched launch vehicle and missile Drop Zone off Mayport, Florida, located at 29.00 N 79.00 W, and an offshore submarine-launched ballistic missile launch area. All of these take advantage of the extensive down-range tracking facilities that once extended from the Cape, through the Caribbean, South Atlantic, and to South Africa and the Indian Ocean. More...

Vandenberg Vandenberg Air Force Base is located on the Central Coast of California about 240 km northwest of Los Angeles. It is used for launches of unmanned government and commercial satellites into polar orbit and intercontinental ballistic missile test launches toward the Kwajalein Atoll. More...

Kodiak In January 1998, the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation began building a commercial spaceport at Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island, about 400 km south of Anchorage and 40 km southwest of the City of Kodiak. Kodiak Island was advertised as one of the best locations in the world for polar launch operations, providing a wide launch azimuth and unobstructed downrange flight path. More...

Cape Canaveral LC46 Trident, Athena launch complex. This complex was built as part of the U.S. Navy's Trident II ballistic missile effort at the Cape. Construction was underway in February 1984, and the complex was ordnance-certified in November 1986. Complex 46 supported the Cape's first Trident II test missile launch on 15 January 1987. Eighteen more Trident IIs were launched from the site between 17 March 1987 and 27 January 1989. As Trident launch operations moved out to sea later in 1989, the complex was placed on standby status awaiting special Trident II test requirements. No new requirements surfaced in the 1990s, but the Spaceport Florida Authority (SFA) won $4,890,000 in Air Force grants to redesign Complex 46 to handle small commercial space launch operations (e.g., Lockheed Martin's new LMLV-2 space launch vehicle). More...

Starshine-3 was a 90 kg, 0.9 m geodetic sphere that was to be observed by students. The NASA satellite was basically a passive light-reflecting sphere, consisting of 1,500 student-built mirrors (polished by kindergarten and grade school students from many countries) and 31 laser "retroreflectors". A few solar cells provide enough power to send a beacon at 145.825 MHz every minute. Ham operators around the world were expected to obtain signal strengths from which the decay (due to magnetic torque) of its spin rate could be determined. The project was managed by NASA GSFC and Starshine was built by the Naval Research Laboratory.